Authorities from the Ministries of Social Development and equivalent entities from Latin America and the Caribbean claimed the role of regional cooperation to advance in the strengthening of social institutions in the face of the current complex socioeconomic situation, during the Fifth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Conference Regional Meeting on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean of ECLAC, held on the afternoon of Thursday, September 29, 2022, in Cuenca, Ecuador.
The meeting took place within the framework of the XIV Ministerial Forum on Development of Latin America and the Caribbeanorganized with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and which concludes this Friday, September 30.
The Fifth Meeting of the Presiding Officers of the Regional Conference on Social Development was opened by Raúl García-Buchaca, Deputy Executive Secretary for Administration and Analysis of Programs of the Economic Commission for Latin America and the Caribbean (ECLAC); Luis Felipe López-Calva, UNDP Regional Director for Latin America and the Caribbean; and Dean Jonas, Minister of Social Transformation, Human Resource Development and Blue Economy of Antigua and Barbuda, in his capacity as Chairman of the Board.
“We met in Cuenca to share visions, experiences, opportunities and challenges in terms of social institutions and regional cooperation, in order to strengthen the development of universal, comprehensive, sustainable and resilient social protection systems in Latin America and the Caribbean,” he said. Raúl García-Buchaca at the opening of the match.
The senior official explained that one of the four axes of the Regional Agenda for Inclusive Social Development (ARDSI) -approved in 2019 during the Third Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean held in Mexico- calls precisely for the strengthening of the social institutionality, basis for implementing universal social protection systems and social and labor inclusion policies.
“Strengthening social institutions is a condition for fulfilling the social commitments of the State, generating quality programs and providing continuity, legitimacy and coherence to policies,” said the ECLAC representative, stressing: “we are convinced that the Concerted and simultaneous action among countries is essential to advance towards sustainable development. The 2030 Agenda has put multilateralism at the center”.
Finally, Raúl García-Buchaca was confident that the discussions in Cuenca “will contribute to progress in the implementation of the Regional Agenda for Inclusive Social Development and its priority axes, especially achieving a consolidated social institutional framework hand in hand with vigorous regional cooperation. ”.
Luis Felipe López-Calva, Regional Director of the UNDP, stressed, meanwhile, that “it is time to act and double our efforts to recover the lost progress and to get back on the path of human, sustainable and inclusive development” and added that “institutions play a central role in the effectiveness of any social policy. We know that it is not an easy task for countries to build this institutional framework, but the idea is also to say that no country is alone. There is a multilateral effort and an effort among the countries themselves to share experiences in this area”.
In turn, Dean Jonas, Minister of Social Transformation, Human Resource Development and Blue Economy of Antigua and Barbuda, said that in Latin America and the Caribbean “we must collaborate and support each other to mitigate all facets of the devastation and crises that continue to hit countries, and especially in the growing demands for the availability and access to sustainable financing”.
Subsequently, a panel discussion was held on the new challenges for social institutions and regional cooperation, in which Alberto Arenas de Mesa, Director of the Social Development Division of ECLAC, participated; Kirk Humphrey, Minister for People’s Empowerment and Elderly Affairs of Barbados; Yorleny León Marchena, Minister of Human Development and Social Inclusion of Costa Rica; Andrea Brugman, Undersecretary of the Ministry of Social Development of Uruguay; Paula Poblete, Undersecretary of Social Evaluation of the Ministry of Social Development and Family of Chile; Cayo Cáceres, Vice Minister of Social Policies of the Ministry of Social Development of Paraguay; and Nancy Ampudia, Director of Bi-Multilateral and South-South International Cooperation of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Human Mobility of Ecuador.
Government representatives from Grenada, Guatemala, Honduras, Panama, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, and Trinidad and Tobago also participated in person. Officials from Argentina, Brazil, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, El Salvador, Mexico and Peru, among other countries in the region, participated virtually.
The objective of the meeting was to facilitate the exchange of experiences and the identification of areas of cooperation and synergies between the Ministry of Social Development and equivalent entities to return to the path of sustainable development based on solid social institutions in the countries of the region.
The appointment in Ecuador will help to deepen the joint work in view of the celebration of the Fifth Regional Conference on Social Development in Latin America and the Caribbean scheduled for the second half of 2023.
To date, four editions of the Regional Conference have been held. The first in Lima in November 2015, the second in Montevideo in October 2017, the third in Mexico City in October 2019 and the Fourth, virtual, with Antigua and Barbuda in the Presidency, in October 2021.
